March is here and conference tournaments are in full swing. Selection Sunday is just a few days away and there are still a few things to work out. As of right now, the Big 12 has seven teams that are a lock to make the big dance with Arizona, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, BYU, and TCU.
However, the big question for the conference is who else could get in? There are still several teams on the bubble and every game counts. So let’s take a look at what the Big 12 bubble looks like.
UCF Knights
After ending the regular season on a three-game losing streak, UCF was in trouble. For weeks, I watched their projected seed get worse and prior to the tournament, they were likely going to be a double-digit seed.
An early exit from Kansas City could have easily put them on the outside looking in but fortunately for the Knights, they were able to get a win over Cincinnati on Wednesday. Right now, CBS has them as 11 seed while Joe Lunardi has them at a ten.
Their NET ranking is now in the early 50’s which is OK, but not where it was a week ago. While a win was needed, I wouldn’t feel 100% safe just yet. The good news is that they have a big opportunity ahead of them when the face the best the Big 12 has to offer with Arizona on Tuesday afternoon. A win there would likely secure a spot in the big dance.
West Virginia Mountaineers
The last couple of weeks have been a rocky road for the Mountaineers and unfortunately, I am not talking about the ice cream flavor (which is delicious by the way). West Virginia was on a three-game skid prior to their big upset win over BYU a couple of weeks ago and then they went out and lost to Kansas State.
However, they were able to beat UCF last weekend and get back to .500 in Big 12 play. The bad news is that their NET ranking isn’t great and they needed to make a run in Kansas City. Instead, they didn’t show up at all and were blown out by 20 points against BYU on Wednesday. It’s safe to say that West Virginia will not be going dancing on Sunday after all this.
Cincinnati Bearcats
At one point, you could have made an argument that Cincinnati was the hottest team in the Big 12. Prior to their final regular season game against TCU, the Bearcats had won six out of their last seven games which nobody else in the conference could say.
They were starting to get attention from both CBS and Joe Lunardi but then they ended up falling short against the Horned Frogs on the road. Even still, they were .500 in conference action and still not completely out of it just yet.
But much like West Virginia, they desperately needed to make a run in Kansas City and they just couldn’t get the job done against UCF. CBS doesn’t have the Bearcats on their radar at all and Joe Lunardi has them as the fifth team out. Now the Cincinnati is going to need some chaos to happen to get a chance to the big dance. Help and prayers will likely be needed.
